The beast hurled its giant hand at him. Its sheer size made it look slower than it was, making it difficult for him to calculate its next move.
He rolled forward and picked the sword up.
Lunging at the beast, he ducked another blow and slid under the gap between its legs.
Jin was testing the beast's limits. So, he was expecting to receive a few blows in return for underestimating his opponent.
Stopping himself with his other hand, he turned back to the beast.
'Wha—'
The beast slammed its arm into him.
He was thrown across the room and crashed into one of its walls. The impact was so sudden that he almost lost consciousness, his eyes rolling back.
Using his sword as support, he swayed heavily before standing up again.
'I was too arrogant.'
Wiping the blood obscuring his sight, he looked back at the ape, who was slowly turning back.
Despite its size, the beast had frightening agility. He had expected it to take at least a few seconds to notice him. But its reaction time was simply too fast. The worst part was its flexibility. The speed at which it had turned back was absurd.
Now that he had taken a direct blow, he couldn't risk calculating the beast's movements any further. Another such attack would be more than just deadly.
'I need to change strategies.'
His eyes darted across the hall, finding anything that could help him turn the situation against the beast.
But everywhere around him was just the debris of the broken ceiling and concrete blocks.
Finally, his gaze landed on the marble stele.
By then, the ape had already recovered. It sent another barreling blow at him, the air whistling around its hide.
He barely escaped, hiding behind debris right beside him.
'Will that even work?'
Staying low, he moved on to his next spot. Fortunately, the room was still dimly lit, making it difficult for the beast to find his position.
But it was never looking for him in the first place.
He gritted his teeth and blocked another attack. His sword was on the verge of falling apart, cracks forming on its scratched surface.
From the very start, the beast was following the scent of his blood. The visor on its head was doing a great job at obscuring its sight already.
It had used the same ability to find him, tearing apart the ceiling since it couldn't enter through the corridor.
It was almost as if this situation was rigged against him. He was already losing blood, and the enemy he encountered thrived on its sense of smell. It was simply terrifying.
Hiding behind another large piece of debris, he inhaled deeply.
'If this continues, I'll die before it can even catch me.'
Jin was barely managing with the demonic qi.
The concept behind demonic martial arts was simple—it was to give in to one's emotions completely, letting them run wild with your body as the conduit.
He had completed the first requirement. But he not only lacked the second requirement; he didn't have it at all.
All the demonic qi could currently manage was to burn the feelings running rampant in his heart to mask the pain. It was the only way for him to keep moving. And it wasn't going to last long.
He furtively glanced at the stele. There was a delay in his thoughts.
'No time to—'
Before he could complete the thought, the ape threw a lethal punch at him, blowing the debris apart. The pieces flew apart, filling the air with thick dust.
Jin emerged from the dust, barely keeping his breath steady.
The beast didn't waste a second, both its arms already heading for him.
As he saw the beast's arms stretching endlessly towards him, a chill went down his spine. Even as he was moving, they kept stretching in his direction.
Screech!
Instead of reaching him, its hands smashed against the marble stele. Surprisingly, the ancient block of marble survived the clash.
He jumped above the stele and landed on the beast's arms.
With a swift move, he lunged at its head and drove the sword inside its visor.
"Keeee!!"
Before he could react, Jin was sent flying toward the stele.
Barely missing the stele, he crashed into the wall behind it.
It screamed, making the hall itself tremble.
But it soon calmed down.
The beast slowly brought its hand to the hilt poking out of the shell over its head. It tried to find a way to pull the sword out, but its fingers were too thick to grasp the sword. Even if it did grab it somehow, there was no way of doing it in a painless manner, which only enraged it more.
It put its trembling hand on the injured eye, trying to cover the wound, and looked around.
He was nowhere to be found. It remembered throwing him near the stele, but there was no one there anymore. Or at least not where he could see.
It looked at a trail that ended behind the stele. The blood was fresh, its warmth almost irresistible to the ape.
Drooling unconsciously, it slowly walked toward the stele.
The beast put its hand on the stele and peeked behind the stele.
Empty.
There was nothing but blood pooled around what seemed to be a broken breastplate.
It felt something on its back.
Without another thought, the beast fell on its back, rolling around in an attempt to crush him under its weight.
As it did, something dropped on its thick fur.
Stopping instinctively, it looked at the ceiling.
Above, Jin had been hanging with the help of a vine protruding from the ceiling, a large block of cement held firmly in his other hand.
His face was covered in blood, and his lips curled up slightly.
Letting go of the vine, he dropped straight toward the ape. Right before landing, he brought the concrete block above his head and slammed it on the sword's hilt.
The remaining part of the sword slid right through the bony plate without much resistance. Traveling through the eye, it reached the beast's brain and pierced right through it.
He jumped aside and crawled away from the beast. Instead of staying in the open, he somehow managed to pull himself behind the stele.
He lifted his hands and pressed them against his ears.
'Here it comes.'
Suddenly, the beast screamed, as if it were just now registering what had happened.
It rose aggressively and threw its arms around, destroying everything in its path. The debris was demolished, while the ceiling completely fell apart. It slammed its head on one of the walls, utterly destroying it.
The shell on its head cracked and was then crushed into pieces.
Meanwhile, he kept his ears shut and stayed behind the stele as if his life depended on it. Much to his surprise, the stele held on to the end. Even if the foundation under it was cracked and broken, it kept serving as his shield, keeping him safe as the mad beast wreaked havoc.
As time passed, its movements grew slower.
After a while, it completely stopped.
Only when he heard the beast fall did Jin come out.
'Is it… dead?'
Immediately after the question, he felt like punching himself in the gut. He didn't want the beast to prove him wrong by waking up again.
He stood up and walked to the beast. But before he could reach there, his legs finally gave in.
His breathing, which had grown steady, was now more than just inconsistent.
'Can't… breathe.'
The last attack he had taken head-on was far too much for him. His ribs, which were broken, had punctured his lungs. Every breath he drew brought more blood than air.
Even if he wanted to, he couldn't even cough up blood anymore. He had just lost that much after all.
He clenched his fist.
'No, I refuse to die like this. Not until I see the end.'
When he had previously examined the runes on the floor, he had gotten the gist of why Lian was here.
So, until he accomplished his goal, he refused to let go.
He got on all four and crawled ahead. When he couldn't crawl any further, he dragged his body there.
When he finally reached the beast, he climbed over its head.
He briefly glanced at the beast's face.
What had once been a prideful predator now only had a single eye, its face deformed after beating itself against the walls.
He grabbed the sword and pulled it. The sword was completely lodged inside its head, refusing to give in.
After some efforts, he pulled it out completely.
He brought the sword to his hand. He grabbed its blade tightly, drops of crimson blood falling on the beast's hide.
Looking back at the stele, he took in another shaky breath.
"O great one, that resides in this forest. We pray for your eternal blessings."
The metallic taste on his tongue was alarming, but he continued.
"We pray for your death."
Biting his lower lip, he said, "We pray… for your return."
All of a sudden, the forest fell silent.